Fort Lauderdale company fined over tree trimmer's electrocution

Anthony Donahue, a 34-year old electrocuted by a power line while trimming a tree in Fort Lauderdale in April, would be alive today had his employer taken proper precautions, a federal worker safety agency said Tuesday.

“This tragedy was preventable had Monster Tree Service taken the necessary steps to ensure the worker was protected while working around overhead power lines,” Condell Eastmond, OSHA’s area director in Fort Lauderdale, said in a statement. “We’ve seen an unfortunate rise of similar incidents in the tree trimming industry recently due to employers not following OSHA standards. Ignoring safety standards near energized power lines gambles with workers' lives.”